Fromm, Erich (1900–1980)

German psychoanalyst who moved to the USA in 1933 to escape the Nazis. He believed that human beings experience a separation from nature and from other people which gives them the freedom to decide on the course their lives should take. This gives their lives meaning but also causes anxiety.

Fromm was influenced by Karl Marx and existentialism as much as by psychoanalysis. He stressed the role of culture in the formation of personality, a view that distinguished him from traditional psychoanalysts. He also described the authoritarian personality (the servile, obedient type of person who wants to accept authority), particularly to explain the success of Nazism.

Fromm's basic ideas are set out in The Fear of Freedom 1941 and The Sane Society 1955. He urged people to give up the materialistic way of life for one based on meaningful love in The Art of Loving 1956 and To Have or to Be 1976.